September 17, 2007

5,000 Members Challenge the Chancellor

This Wednesday, September 19, the day our current contract expires, the PSC will deliver all the signatures gathered on the petition supporting the union’s bargaining agenda directly to Chancellor Goldstein. The petition reflects the involvement of PSC members from every part of the union, every campus, every job title. It is a unified call for the salaries, conditions and contract provisions that we need to do our jobs. President Barbara Bowen will personally hand over the petition signatures to the Chancellor and meet with him to press our case for a fair and timely contract. The Chancellor denied a request to meet with a small group of rank-and-file PSC members, but there will be a lively contingent of members outside his 80th Street offices while President Bowen meets with him.

The final deadline to sign the petition is 3pm tomorrow, Tuesday! If you have not already, please do – your signature matters.

Our CUNY vs. Their CUNY this Wednesday

Join PSC members Joyce Moorman, Rebecca Hill, Mark Noonan, David Winn, Page Delano, Joseph Entin, James Davis, Jason Smith, Howard Pflanzer, Kevin Birth, Abigail Schoneboom, Nancy Berke, Nick Agrait, Josh Brown and Bill Friedheim for an evening of provocative fun as we look at what CUNY could be like under management’s demands, or under the PSC’s. Emceed by Blanche Wiesen Cook and Rebecca Hill, September 19, at the union hall, 61 Broadway, 16th floor, 6:30 reception, 7-9 program. The evening may make you laugh, but it could not be more serious in its exploration of the two competing visions of the University and what they mean for the future of our jobs. The program will also feature an update on contract negotiations and a report from the petition delivery and meeting with the Chancellor that morning.

Bargaining Resumes Friday

The next bargaining session will be this Friday, September 21. Contact Amanda DeJesus Magalhaes at adejesus@pscmail.org if you would like to attend this session, or a future session. For a full list of the union’s demands, management’s demands and the latest contract news, visit the negotiations section on the website regularly.

Reception to Honor AFT Union Summer Volunteers this Thursday

On Thursday at 5:30pm, the PSC will host a reception in honor of the 18 members who participated this year in the AFT’s Union Summer program. Most volunteered to help rebuild New Orleans while others went to Baton Rouge, Houston and San Antonio. Other PSC members have been to New Orleans on their own or through other organizations. All are welcome to an event that will also include a panel discussion of the experience in New Orleans.

First Delegate Assembly Meeting of the Semester

The first Delegate Assembly of the semester will be this Thursday, at 7pm, in the union hall at the PSC office. The DA is the union’s central policy-making body, and it meets monthly during the academic year (generally on the third Thursday of the month). Its voting members are elected in chapter elections every three years. Meetings are open to all PSC members, and members are welcome and encouraged to attend and participate. On the agenda for this Thursday are discussion of the next steps in the contract campaign and resolutions from various committees.

PSC Calls for Answers from TRS on Security Breach

The union continues to demand answers from the City and from the Teachers Retirement System (TRS, one of the pension plans available to PSC members) about the August 18 theft of a laptop computer that contained personal data on City retirees, including some PSC members. (For more information, see last week’s edition of “This Week in the PSC” [add link].) The union is setting up a meeting for retirees with TRS officials to answer questions about how they might be affected.

"Wednesday is the last day of our contract. The intense union activity this week is planned to impress upon CUNY management how frustrated and insulted the members feel not even to have an economic offer by this point. The week also includes some wonderful things—like the September 19 evening and the celebration of the New Orleans volunteers—but it ends with a return to the bargaining table and the union’s determination to press forward to a fair contract."~Barbara Bowen, President